


Friend in the Darkness

by NightysWolf



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Comfort, Gen, World of Ruin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-05 04:38:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16803796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightysWolf/pseuds/NightysWolf
Summary: When the world is falling into darkness, Ignis finds a friend in the most unlikely places...





	Friend in the Darkness

_You don’t know what you have until it’s gone..._

Ignis Scientia hated the fact that these exact words he had spoken once where hunting him now like a nightmare. Until the events in Altissia he hadn’t thought about so many things that were just normal for him... and then his sight was taken away from him and suddenly everything was different, because with the loss of his vision he also lost his independence as well. Suddenly he needed help with things that had been normal before - easy even. Ignis hated the fact that he had to rely on others and after his return to Lucis, it didn’t take long until an icy determination gripped him even tighter than before and he decided to learn and train to take back what had been his once.

It was a long way and it was a hard way, plastered with obstacles and problems, riddled with setbacks and disappointments but giving up wasn’t an option for the advisor of the king. It had never been. And so he trained – orientating himself without the help of a cane, cooking without burning the dish or his fingers and he went back into fighting. First against Cor, then against the Glaives that were based in Lestallum and the outposts which still had light and against Aranea when she was available and willing. Over time he regained all his abilities that the loss of his vision had ripped from him, but there was one thing he would never be able to do again... Driving a car.

Somehow it seemed though, that fate had a strange way of fixing things and when Ignis threw his rucksack down from the truck in Cauthess he had taken there from Lestallum to check out the areas, he heard the familiar sound of a chocobo. Curious Ignis shouldered his sparse belongings and walked over to where he had heard the birds. Ignis knew that Wiz had to give up his Chocobo Post when the night grew longer because it had been impossible to rig it to the main power grid fast enough, so Wiz had split his chocobo herd and had send part of it with his assistent to Old Lestallum while he had fled to Cauthess.

Surefooted Ignis surrounded the main-hall that was partly half an open sleeping area (it was still possible to get more private quarters in another hangar though) and half a marketplace and reached the brightly lit area restricted by fences that was build up behind it - and there they were. A small herd of chocobo’s picking at the greens that were offered to them surrounded by a bunch of little children who were delighted to pat and feed the huge riding birds. Ignis allowed himself a small chuckle but then a loud and very annoyed “Kweeeeeeh” startled him and that annoyed sound had been very familiar.

Surprised the advisor made his way to the fence and even though he didn’t see what chocobo stood in front of him on the other side of the barrier he knew exactly which one it was. “Hey, Tamron,” he crooned softly, before he started to rub the birds beak and ruffle it’s feathers. “How are you?”

“And there I was wonderin’ why he suddenly ran away from me,” a friendly voice remarked and Ignis heard a familiar footstep coming up. “How are you doing, son?”

Ignis chuckled and then shook the hand that was offered to him. “Considering all the circumstances we have to face in this world, I would say I’m quite fine,” he replied. “It’s a shame that you had to give up the post though, Wiz. It would have been a very welcoming haven on the road to rest up.”

“That it would have been,” Wiz replied. “But at least I made it here and my birds are still alive and bring at least a small joy to the people who pass through. Tamron recognized your steps at once, when you came around the hangar.“ For a moment the old Chocobo-breeder stopped and Ignis could sense his eyes on him, could feel them trail over the scar on this eyebrow that was partly hidden and the ones on his lip and across his nose. The left side of his face, that was heavily scarred by the ring of the Lucii was momentarily facing away from Wiz and Ignis hadn‘t planned on turning his head. „But tell me, son - what happened to you?”

“I don’t want to waste your time with stories long past,” Ignis said with a shake of the head and shoved his iced visor a bit higher with a gloved finger.

“I have my doubts that your stories are boring - they never were, but if you don’t want to talk, I won’t pressure you,” Wiz replied. “Just answer me one thing: Can you see?”

Ignis forced his face to remain still, but his hands clenched in Tamrons feathers and the bird - sensing his unease - lowered it‘s head and started to rub it‘s hard beak against Ignis‘ left cheek, slightly knocking the visor out of place.

Wiz nodded slightly. „I thought so,“ he remarked softly, cause Ignis subtly reactions hadn‘t been lost to him. „If the color of your eyes hadn‘t given you away, I wouldn‘t have noticed anything different on you aside from the scars.“

„And this is exactly how I want it,“ Ignis replied and turned to Wiz. „I won‘t let these scars and my lack of vision define who I am.“

Wiz chuckled. „And it doesn’t,“ the old chocobo-breeder said before he motioned Ignis to follow him. „I have heard stories about you. About you rising from the the ashes like a Phoenix. I think I know now what they mean.“

Ignis snorted. „They exaggerate.“

„I doubt that, son. Remember that I knew you before already and I don‘t see any difference in the way you hold yourself. Knowing that you lost your ability to see only makes this achievement more noticeable.“

Ignis followed Wiz around the barns to a small hut, that the hunters had build for him, that he could stay close to his birds and for a moment Ignis remembered the long nights around the campfire when they had travelled with the chocobo‘s because the empire had stripped them of their precious Regalia. In this very moment, Ignis decided to be bold for once. „Wiz, I know you love your chocobo‘s like your own children, but would it be possible to train one that it allows a rider but is still independent and unbroken enough to act on it‘s own if needed - a chocobo that can find it‘s way even without the riders guidance.“

Wiz turned around, one eyebrow raised. „You mean a chocobo for you, that heeds your commands yet is strong and independent enough to compensate the loss of your vision on the road? A chocobo that gets you back and forth without you being depend on the transports beneath the towns?“

„Yes,“ Ignis replied with a soft sigh and he could feel the strong and unwavering gaze of Wiz upon him. He held the eye contact, knowing that even though he couldn‘t see Wiz their eyes met.

Finally Wiz turned away and nodded. „I might have one chocobo that would be fit enough for something like this,“ he said and took the rucksack from Ignis to place it in the small hut before he lead him to another barn. „She is strong and stubborn and while she accepts bridle and saddle she literally doesn‘t accept a rider. She is a proud one - most likely because her mother was a wild chocobo and that you can see in her - not only in her looks but also in her personality. You know I called her Nox, because of her feathers. They remind me of the nights we had before the long dark came upon us. Black and yet with a shimmer of blue in them.“

And in that moment Ignis knew exactly which chocobo Wiz was talking about. „She‘s grown up then?“ Ignis asked softly as he vividly remembered the black chocobo chick he and his friends had visited after they had saved the egg at the Vesperpool.  
  
"She is, but hunters found another egg shortly after and brought it to me. Seems that the black chocobo's aren't as extinct as we thought," Wiz replied, while Ignis couldn‘t dwell long on these memories of better days that had resurfaced, since they had reached the barn and there indeed she was. Huge, black and her feathers shimmering blue in the artificial lights. The head held up high and her large wings spread out in their full glory. She was the perfect mirror of the black chocobo that had stolen Ignis glasses years ago.

„Astrals, she is gorgeous,“ Ignis said softly as he leaned over the fences. Ignis had lost the ability to see, but his other senses could drew him images as accurate all the same by now.

„That she is,“ Wiz remarked with a chuckle and shoved some Ghysal greens into Ignis gloved hands. „Lure her over, let‘s see if she likes you.“

Ignis nodded and carefully climbed over the fence into the barn. For a few minutes they just stood there - Ignis and the chocobo, before she slowly made her way over to him, wings spread apart in a threatening gesture but Ignis deliberately ignored this and just stayed where he was. If she attacked, he could still evade a hit by phasing. And then a long call from another barn made it‘s way over and Ignis turned his head. Tamron - he was calling out but for whom? For Ignis... or Nox? Seconds passed, falling like sand in an hourglass and then Nox gave up her threatening stance and made her way over to Ignis. She ran her beak along the two sides of his face, knocked the visor to the side until Ignis took it off, pressed her head against his chest before nuzzling under the leather jacket the advisor wore instead of his Crownsguard attire. She took the greens out of his and and then started to circle him like, shoving him away from the fence into the middle of the barn. Ignis heard Tamron call out once more - softer now and Ignis felt Nox nudge at his shoulder and the tactician understood. Carefully but swift he took hold of a bunch of feathers and then swung himself onto the bare back of the black chocobo.

It took a few more minutes until Ignis and the chocobo found a way of understanding each other but then Nox easily and unburdened by her rider trotted to the gate of the barn, waited until Ignis had opened it and strode over to the spot where a surprised and dumbfounded Wiz was waiting with his cap in his hand. „Well, son. I think you got yourself a ride.“  
  
And with this Ignis and his new companion became almost inseparable. When it was needed to make longer treks in faster paces, Ignis simply packed Nox onto the loading of one of the trucks, otherwise he rode most of the way. When he couldn*t take her along for hunts he left her with somebody he trusted - mostly senior hunters who knew him from before the fall of darkness or with his friends depending on the outpost. In Lestallum Iris had an eye on Nox and the children loved the bird to bits.

More often than not Ignis found himself alone with his trusted chocobo though, because unlike the other hunters who were bound to vehicles and streets, Ignis was able to go over the vast and deserted planes and was able to reach long abandoned but still brightly glowing havens. More and more Ignis became a scout, who was gathering information on long lost areas and was able to map out safe routes for others when they couldn‘t find their way back to the armed and lit outposts.

And with this, Ignis had regained that last important thing that he loss of his vision hat taken from him. His independence.

**Author's Note:**

> Render to this story can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/nightyswolf/art/Friend-in-the-Darkness-732776276


End file.
